Madison Central has won the Clarion-Ledger's Class 5A All-Sports Award by the smallest of margins over Tupelo.
The difference in the annual competition to determine Mississippi’s best high schools for athletics came after the Jaguars won the Class 5A state baseball championship this spring.
In the 22nd year of the program, Tupelo has been an all-sports champion 16 times; Madison Central six times. This year, Madison Central outpointed Tupelo by a half point.
Madison Central was a state champion in three sports: baseball, boys power lifting, and girls soccer. The Jags also took state runner-up honors in four other sports during the school year.
Meanwhile, Tupelo was a state winner in six sports, including boys bowling, boys cross country, boys golf, boys swimming, girls cross country and tennis.
The other state all-sports winners were Oxford in Class 4A, Corinth in Class 3A, St. Andrew’s in Class 2A, and West Union in Class 1A. St. Andrew’s took top honors in 2A for the 10th straight year, while Oxford won in Class 4A for the seventh straight time.
Baseball: Hester to appeal firing at New Hope
New Hope High School baseball coach Stacy Hester says he will appeal his dismissal at the Lowndes County school.
Hester was coaching a Mississippi elite junior baseball team in Oklahoma when the Lowndes County school board approved a recommendation that he not be retained. The recommendation came from the school district superintendent.
The recent decision came as part of a consent agenda item at a recent school board meeting and was not discussed before the board voted 5-0 for approval. Hester says he has not been given a reason why he was fired.
Under Hester, New Hope won 551 games in his 18 years, including state championships in 1996, 1998 and 2003. His teams have been nationally ranked and the 1996 squad set a state record by going 43-0. Between 1996 and 1997, the Trojans won 51 straight games and 68 straight against state opponents.
Football: Caledonia chooses new coach
Caledonia High School has named David Boykin as its new football coach. Boykin returns to Caledonia, where he previously coached for two seasons, compiling 3-7 records both years.
This past year, Boykin was a volunteer coach for the University of North Alabama. He’ll replace Jason Forrester, who resigned.
Boykin has also coached at Central Academy in Macon and was a coordinator at Noxubee County.
Basketball: Bivens takes over at Aberdeen
In another off-season coaching move, Latorrence Bivens becomes the new girls basketball coach at Aberdeen High School.
Bivens has been an assistant coach in the boys’ program at Aberdeen. This will be the first head coaching experience for the 26-year old Bivens.
He takes over a program that made the semifinals of last year’s Class 3A state tournament, before losing to Raymond 62-48. Bivens was also an assistant coach for the Aberdeen football program, but will not fill that role this year.
